Texas A&M And Prairie View A&M Partner To Enhance Graduate Education

The Office of Graduate Studies at Prairie View A&M University and the Graduate and Professional School at Texas A&M University have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) establishing a partnership to improve graduate education at both institutions. The goal of the MOA is to collaborate to capitalize on each institution’s strengths.

“This is a great opportunity to work together on behalf of graduate and professional students and faculty at two great institutions,” said Dorie Gilbert, who assisted with developing the MOA over the past year while serving as dean of graduate studies at Prairie View A&M.

“Prairie View and Texas A&M are outstanding in graduate programming, each with something unique to offer the other. As system schools in such close proximity, it’s a natural collaboration that will benefit graduate students across all disciplines,” added Gilbert, now dean of Prairie View’s Brailsford College of Arts & Sciences.

The terms of the MOA include bi-monthly meetings to create new initiatives and work toward continuous improvement of initiative goals, ensuring high-quality programs for graduate students at both institutions, and engaging stakeholders as appropriate, including colleges, departments, schools and centers where activities and programs may provide unique experiences for students. The MOA also includes a commitment to implementing partnership initiatives without adding excessive administrative burdens.

The first major initiative of the MOA is the “Teaching Exchange Program,” which is designed to offer doctoral students an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge in core university-level courses at the respective institutions by teaching at the partner institution.

It’s a win-win, said Karen Butler-Purry, dean of the Graduate and Professional School at Texas A&M.

“Texas A&M graduate students will benefit from the experience of teaching at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) whose student population is uniquely diverse — culturally, socially, educationally and economically,” she said. “Likewise, Prairie View graduate students will benefit from the experience of teaching at a Tier 1, AAU, land-grant institution whose student population is different from that at their home institution.”

Butler-Purry added that undergraduates on both campuses will benefit from the opportunity to learn from advanced graduate students with a passion for teaching and inspire them to succeed and possibly consider graduate school.

New initiatives will be added to the MOA as addendums. The MOA is set to commence in fall 2021 and will run for a term of five years, at which time it will be reviewed and assessed for the purpose of revision and continuance.